The State

A Venice man was in critical condition Monday with second-degree burns on his face and arms caused by an explosion that was triggered as he opened a package concealing a homemade bomb. Richard Hill, 48, was taken to UCLA Medical Center Sunday morning after his wood-frame house in the 2400 block of Louella Avenue was rocked by the bomb blast, Los Angeles police said. Two sons, Victor, 19, and Michael, 17, who were in an adjoining living room, escaped injury. The shock wave blew out the front windows of the home and knocked the front door off its hinges, Lt. Ed Beasley said. Hill, whose younger son had brought the package into the house, was opening the box in the kitchen when the explosion occurred. Beasley, head of the police Criminal Conspiracy section, said investigators were "looking at several people" as possible suspects.